If You Have a Family History of Breast Cancer, Then This Study Has Some Good News for You

If your mom, grandmother, or another one of your family members has had breast cancer, then you know all too well that diving into the facts about the disease and your family's health history can be bittersweet. It's helpful to be aware of your health prospects (it's certainly extra motivation to be diligent with screenings and doctors appointments), but it can also be frightening. Somewhere in the back of your mind, the dread of the-all-too-familiar diagnosis haunts you. But ladies, we have some hopeful news...

Women with a high risk for breast cancer—due to family history, genetics, and reproductive factors—can reduce their risk for developing breast cancer to that of an average woman (who's not at high risk) with some simple and healthy lifestyle choices, ABC News reports. 

The average 30-year-old woman has an 11 percent chance of developing breast cancer by the time she is 80, according to the a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. But a woman with a family history of breast cancer or other conditions that put her at a high risk has a 23.5 percent chance of developing breast cancer.

But according to the study, if a woman takes the necessary steps to live a healthy lifestyle, she can reduce her chances down to 11 percent. The risk may not go away completely, but the prognosis is much better.

The results were determined by studying 23,000 high-risk, 30 to 80-year-old white women. Researchers at the National Institutes of Health and John Hopkins University studied this vast group of women and their health data, including their smoking and drinking habits, weight indexes, and use of hormones.  

So what exactly does a high-risk woman need to do to reduce her chances of getting cancer? The authors of the study explained that not being overweight or obese and not drinking or smoking can help women be in control of their cancer risk. Women who avoided menopause hormone therapy, or MHT, were also at a lower risk. 

The authors of the study explained that they only studied white women in the U.S., Europe, and Australia, and that the findings may not apply to all groups in all populations. Again, it's not a perfect fix for breast cancer, but the news is still optimistic. Women with a family history may not feel as doomed as they once felt, and following this advice is a simple way for all women to make a difference in their health.